Lucara Diamond Corp. says that Clara Diamond Solutions, its 100% owned digital sales platform, will commence operations in November 2018 with a select group of large vertically integrated jewellery houses and global diamond manufacturers. Clara is designed to achieve a sustainable premium over existing sales channels, including tenders and long-term supply contracts for sellers, and deliver increased margins for buyers.
Eira Thomas, CEO said after several months of intense commercialisation efforts which are tracking on schedule and under budget, “we are excited to be moving forward with our first sale.”
“Clara is a scalable business solution for the entire diamond industry that is long overdue and necessary to modernise, streamline and increase consumer confidence in the marketplace. The platform has received strong interest from the diamond community and we are delighted to have secured excellent partners, consisting of leading diamond manufacturers and jewelry houses,” Thomas revealed.
How does Clara work?
Clara uses proprietary analytics, with the latest cloud and blockchain technologies, to sell rough diamonds individually, based on polished characteristics and demand, transforming the sales process, driving efficiencies and unlocking value for diamond producers and manufacturers alike.
Under an exclusive collaboration agreement with Sarine Technologies, a digital fingerprint of each rough diamond is created and uploaded to the Clara platform with a corresponding asking price. Simultaneously, diamond buyers upload their specific polished diamond requirements in terms of size, cut, color and quality, including their desired purchase price, creating an ‘order’ within Clara. Clara uses proprietary analytics to match individual, scanned rough diamonds to the buyers’ optimal polished requirements. Clara earns the differential between the asking price and purchase price of each match as its revenue and requires a minimum transaction spread to facilitate an optimal match.
Inaugural Sale – November 2018
Rough diamonds offered in Clara’s first sale will include a selection of diamonds from Lucara’s Karowe mine and additional aggregated third-party rough diamonds consisting of stones between one and fifteen carats in size in the better colors and qualities. In recent weeks, Clara has onboarded a select number of leading vertically integrated jewelry houses and global diamond manufacturers to participate. These buyers shall place their polished diamond orders on Clara and Clara will run its first matching cycle. Clara will utilize the results of this inaugural sale to help optimize the quantity and selection of rough diamonds offered in the short term, as the platform moves into continuous sales. Diamonds sold through Clara will supplement and be complimentary to Lucara’s existing diamond sales channels which will continue to use tenders.
Data collected from this sale will also provide key metrics to demonstrate the premium Clara can obtain over historical tenders and for rough purchased through long term supply contracts. In co-operation with our manufacturing partners, Clara will analyse both qualitative and quantitative feedback about their experiences as purchasers, at the time of sale and following delivery of the diamonds purchased. Additional feedback is anticipated as diamonds move through the diamond pipeline into manufacturing and ultimately final retail sale.
